Why Karunanidhi-led DMK lost Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2016

Chennai: Proving exit polls wrong, J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK on Thursday triumphed in Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2016. The decades old tradition was broken in the fierce contest between the ruling party and M Karunanidhi-led DMK. Amma's party retained power by an incumbent regime for the first time after 1984. AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran was the only one who managed to successively win polls (1977-87) in the southern state and after that no other party managed to do it.

Though, political personalities are worshipped like God in South India, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M Karunanidhi's age might have been a drawback for him to turn the tide in his favour.

The corruption cases against Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and his close confidante A Raja played a major factor for DMK's third successive poll defeat. It seems the 2G scam is still fresh in the minds of the electorate and even the poll promise to set up a Lokayukta that would have covered the chief minister and as well all his ministers went in vain. Notably, ever since the mega scam, DMK's popularity has been dwindling and it suffered a crushing defeat not only in 2011 Assembly polls, but was unable to open its account in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Notably, despite the NaMo wave Jayalalithaa's party had won all the 39 parliamentary seats.

Tamil Nadu's 'Amma' applied the same tactics which DMK once used to lure voters. Doling out freebies and launching highly-subsidised schemes just ahead of the elections helped AIADMK to retain power.

Moreover, Karunanidhi’s son Stalin is not yet accepted by the people in the same league as his father. And the distancing of elder son MK Alagiri, who is considered to be Madurai's strongman, might have also affected the support base of the DMK.